The community picking up after itself

Stapleton Road has long held the unfortunate reputation of being a hotspot in Bristol for littering, fly tipping and general anti-social treatment of public space. But concerned locals have been working hard over the last two years to pass on a message to fellow residents and businesses that it was simply not acceptable for them to treat their streets and parks with such flagrant disregard.

Show Stapes Some Love is a campaign masterminded by graphic designer Lisa Cole in conjunction with the council’s Clean Streets initiative and the longstanding local organisation Up Our Street. Its aim is principally to clean up Stapleton Road and its surrounding spaces, but crucially it also provides information and support for the community so that every person is aware of how the bin collection services operate and how they can help maintain a good level of public cleanliness.

Stapleton Road is regularly the site of fly tipping

Lisa has designed thank you posters for people living in the area who have beautiful gardens, created flyers for shops and residents giving clear advice about when rubbish should go out for collection and painted bins and streets with flowers to make them more attractive. “A lot of the shops have industrial wheely bins and occasional street corners have litter bins. The bins attract sofas, fridges, broken black bin bags and all sorts of rubbish. What if the area around the bin was pretty? Would people still fly tip there?” she says of her inspiration. She has also designed t-shirts for volunteers who regularly go out and pick litter in the local area.

One such event took place on Thursday, August 16, run by community activist Khalil Abdi from Bristol Horn Youth Concern. He gathered fellow local residents, Police Community Support Officers and representatives from Bristol City Council outside Easton Leisure Centre, who are a key local advocate of the scheme, to stage the litter picking session.

“This is a space for families and children and as you can see people just dump their stuff here,” Khalil said as the group approached Clifton Place, the first stop on the day’s route, which has gained notoriety as being one of the worst repositories of everyday rubbish in the area. The grass is essentially a communal front garden for a group of houses along Stapleton Road, but is often covered in litter.

The communal green space of Clifton Place was tackled by the volunteer team

Kye Dudd, Labour councillor for Bristol’s Central Ward and cabinet member responsible for waste, could be found wielding a green bag and a litter picker. “I get lobbied every day about Stapleton Road,” he said. “A lot of community groups are working on the issue and they get irritated if the council does not make sufficient progress.”

And while Dudd and the council potentially have the power to make large-scale changes, local residents are working hard too. A woman who introduced herself as Mary noticed the group’s display of altruism at Clifton Place and began chatting to Khalil and others. She explained that she tends to 92 gardens around her home on Stapleton Road, gesturing to her own meticulously looked after front garden.“This is how I want the area to be,” she said. The problem is, she still feels slightly alone in her efforts: “I try, but it is hard work around here with all the rubbish.”

Local resident and horticulturalist Mary with volunteers including Khalil (left)

Kurt James, who set up the council’s Clean Streets initiative two years ago on the back of the mayor’s pledge to address the refuse issue in Bristol, was also present on the litter pick. “There are people like Mary everywhere. Sometimes people like her need to be made known so that, as cliché as it sounds, we can all be like Mary,” he said as we pushed on towards Rawnsley Park.

He also whole-heartedly supports Khalil’s efforts on Stapleton Road: “This is the best thing in the world; people coming out and giving up their time to make a difference in the community.”

As the party made its way along Stapleton Road, the response from local residents and business owners was wholly positive. Up Our Street director Stacy Yelland mentioned that she had made quite slow progress down the road as she was “stopped by several people who were in agreement that it was important that the streets look nice”.

This kind of engagement from the community is something that Khalil wishes to foster on a larger scale. “It’s about changing attitudes,” he says, with a view towards long-lasting social change. Streets and parks are public goods and if they are really viewed as such then there is no reason they can’t be treated properly, as you would your home.

The total haul of litter that was collected in just one morning

Noel Hickman is the general manager at Easton Leisure Centre and through that role he has sought to encourage the sense of community spirit that will create better treatment of streets. He has done this by opening his doors to local people looking for work. “We can get the community through the doors, but it’s about getting the staff integrated in the community as well,” he said. This way the workforce at the leisure centre will better reflect the area that it serves, and people will start to feel increasingly valued and included in this wider social project.

“Problems still exist,” Khalil said, under no illusions, “but we have removed many of the obstacles we have faced.” Together, the community is working to instil pride in Stapleton Road that will see it stay clean for good.

Find out more about Show Stapes Some Love by visiting www.upourstreet.org.uk/content/show-stapes-some-love